Car stolen at Jackson Gray medical building found in Massachusetts

Thursday

Jun 19, 2014 at 2:00 AM

PORTSMOUTH — A Stratham woman said her 83-year-old husband is still shaken after his car was stolen early Monday morning when he went into the Jackson Gray Medical Building to have some blood work done.

Jeff McMenemy

PORTSMOUTH — A Stratham woman said her 83-year-old husband is still shaken after his car was stolen early Monday morning when he went into the Jackson Gray Medical Building to have some blood work done.

Lisa Ross said her husband left his Infinity sport utility vehicle unlocked when he went inside the medical building on Borthwick Avenue, knowing it would only be about 10 minutes.

When he came out, the car was gone.

"The way I see it, I'm sort of grateful the car was not locked," Ross said. "This guy was obviously watching my husband and he could have hit him or anything, because he wanted that car."

Ross said she decided to speak out about the incident because she wants other people who use the building to know what happened so they can avoid being a crime victim. She believes whoever stole her husband's car was targeting her husband and the car.

"I thank God my husband was OK because these people who are stealing these cars, they don't care," Ross said.

She learned much to her shock that police in Lawrence, Mass., discovered the car abandoned in that city, with all four tires missing.

Her husband had left the key hidden in a compartment of the car, along with some keepsakes, and the family traveled to Lawrence to see if they were still in the vehicle.

When they got there, they were shocked by what they found.

"In the back seat and the floor they defecated and threw up," Ross said. "The car only has 29,000 miles on it. I felt like I don't want the car, not after they did that."

Ross said even though she immediately started canceling her credit cards when her husband told her the car was stolen, the thief used one of her cards several times in Lawrence.

"There's all these transactions being made in Lawrence, at drug stores, liquor stores, there had to be 25 transactions in two hours," she said.

Ross believes there should be security at the Jackson Gray building and said police need to do more to keep people safe there.

"I feel people should know, especially the elderly," she said about the stolen car and lack of security. "I go there with my husband and I watch husbands and wives in their 70s, holding each other's hands as they walk in, being careful."

The Portsmouth police log for Monday states that Lawrence Police recovered the car on Tremont Street in that city. They confirmed all four tires were missing and no one has been arrested yet in connection with the incident. Lawrence Police Chief James X. Fitzpatrick, who handles media calls for the department, was not in the office Wednesday and couldn't be reached for comment.

Portsmouth Deputy Police Chief Corey MacDonald said Wednesday the heavily wooded area behind the Jackson Gray building is "considered a pass-through by transients." He said the investigation indicates the crime was drug related and likely a "crime of opportunity" because the man left his car unlocked with the keys in it.

"Our investigation to date does not reveal any belief that the victim was specifically targeted," he said.

MacDonald said the 83-year-old drives a "really nice expensive car" that's worth in excess of $40,000.

"We really encourage people to take their keys inside and always lock their door," MacDonald said.

When police interview people who have been arrested for breaking into cars or stealing cars, the thieves tell police they "literally will go down a row of cars and check the door handles to find one that's open."

"They call it car hopping," MacDonald said.

Police try to do sweeps of the camps of homeless people who live in the woods behind the office building, and plan to do another one soon, he said.

"Ninety percent of the goal is to get people to move into legitimate resources," MacDonald said. "Sometimes people living in the woods ... are choosing to be out there on the fringe."

When police do the sweeps, they often come across camps with stolen merchandise, he said.

"Our biggest thing is: Is there any evidence to show that this guy was specifically targeted? Right now, we don't have that; it's not to say it's not the case," MacDonald said.

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